User blog:SubarrowEvelyn/Article construction
This is intended as a long-needed update to User:Rectalwrecker's "Proper Article Construction" blog post. This wiki has progressed significantly since 2014, and practices have changed since the post was first written. As before, this is intended as a guide to people creating or contributing to articles. Infobox A mask or filter article should have a Template:Mask or Template:Filter infobox at the top (under any notices also applied to the article). If a field doesn't apply, leave it out (for example, cheek filter masks don't have threads) Visual editor You can insert these with the visual editor by clicking on "insert", "template" on the dropdown menu, and then selecting "Mask" or "Filter". If you'd like to edit an existing infobox with the visual editor, click on the infobox, then click the button with the template name which appears over it. Wikitext Infoboxes can be inserted in wikitext with and . View the source of Template:Mask and Template:Filter to see all of the fields you can use. Templates used in infobox fields This applies to both visual editor and wikitext. * Thread can be , or , for STANAG 4155, GOST 8762-75 or DIN respectively. * Country should be , where xx is the respective two-letter country code. See Template:Country for a list of countries currently supported on this wiki (and please feel free to request additions if you need them). Don't leave spaces between these. Use to force countries onto a new line if necessary. * Issued should be either a country template with a note (eg. ) or a User template. See Template:User for a list of currently supported "users". You can add notes to user templates too (eg. ). Introduction and sections An article should have an introduction, with the name of the mask in bold. ("The Maskname" is quite a common introduction start). The introduction should be a brief summary noting at least the country of origin and the intended purpose of the mask. The article below the introduction should be divided into sections. The number of sections can vary widely (see PFL and M40 for two extremes), depending on the amount of information in the article. Common sections include Background, Overview, Kit, Accessories and References. General article style Articles should be written formally, avoiding use of first or second person language (I, you, he, she, they, etc), and neutrally (If you'd like to express opinions on a mask, the comments section on an article is the perfect place to do so). Include captions detailing the context of historical images, and add references if you can. References Include references where you can, preferably to credible sources (such as manufacturer information, manuals, and information from organisations using the equipment). Note languages other than English in brackets. If you need to repeatedly refer to pages in references, consider putting the reference list under a 'notes' heading, with short short references to a more comprehensive manually written 'references' list (For an example see M48) Visual Editor Use 'reference' in the insert menu to insert references. Make sure to also insert a reference list at the bottom of the article in its own section if it doesn't already exist. Wikitext Insert references by using the ref tag (http://example.com/page/ (in Russian)). You can reuse a previously named reference with the shorter form, . The references list should be at the bottom of the article in its own section, and can be inserted with Categories Main article for categories Properly categorising an article helps people find it. The most important category an article should have is the country of origin. This should simply be the name of the country in English (for example, Germany, Soviet Union, United States). Edit summaries Edit summaries help people understand what you changed when looking at email notifications or the article history. Summarise everything you changed in the article as best you can, and mark the edit as minor if it isn't extensive, and doesn't change the article's meaning. Advice beyond articles Be nice to people! Profanity is banned on this wiki, even if it's not directed at anyone, and ad-hominem attacks, especially those based on race, sexuality, or gender will be taken seriously. If you have any issues, or need help using the wiki, please contact User:EditorUK (administrator) or me (User:SubarrowEvelyn, a moderator). We don't bite, usually! Feedback If you have any input on this advice, please comment on this post! Category:Blog posts